Chapter 139

Bai Ning Bing, Qing Mao Mountain’s undisputed genius, is now fleeing in a state no one in the Qing Shu group expected, and what unsettles them more is that his pursuer is their own clan’s Fang Yuan, whom they had written off after his defeat to Xiong Li in the arena. Rounding the corner, Fang Yuan calls Fang Zheng “little brother” and shouts to the group that Bai Ning Bing is a murderer who killed the Xiong Li group and “our clan’s Gu Yue Man Shi group,” urging them to stop him. A rift between the brothers means Fang Zheng will not act on the appeal, though Bai Ning Bing, unaware of that rift and reading only their resemblance, believes it. ^{ch. 139}

Caught between the Qing Shu group ahead and Fang Yuan behind, Bai Ning Bing pours all the primeval essence he has recovered into his right arm’s Frost Demon Gu and detonates the whole limb, releasing frost that drives everyone back a hundred steps and blankets the mountain path in ice. When it clears, Bai Ning Bing stands sealed inside an ice crystal three meters high and two meters wide, his face still fixed in malevolence. ^{ch. 139}

Fang Yuan’s thrown moonblade only scores the ice before the cold seals the mark, and he tells the group they must leave, since only Xiong Lin remains to confirm his account of what Bai Ning Bing has done. Qing Shu warns that Bai Ning Bing’s ice muscles turn the crystal into armor rather than a killing blow, and that time inside it only lets him recover. Fang Zheng argues instead for breaking the ice and signaling clan reinforcements while Bai Ning Bing is one armed and spent, and the rest of the group, drawn by the glory of killing him, agree it is a rare chance; Fang Yuan, unwilling to gamble against the Northern Dark Ice Soul physique, leaves alone while the others mock his retreat as cowardice. ^{ch. 139}

Watching Fang Yuan go, Qing Shu privately reasons that killing Bai Ning Bing would leave the Gu Yue clan the mountain’s undisputed strongest, that his own Wood Charm Gu lets him fight above his rank, and that Bai Ning Bing’s missing arm and exhaustion are the best opening he will get. A senior clan elder then arrives, praises Qing Shu’s resolve, calls Gu Yue Bo’s adopted son a credit to the clan, dismisses Bai Ning Bing’s reputation now that he has seen him maim himself, and orders Fang Zheng, the clan’s only A grade talent, to stay back and only watch. ^{ch. 139}